YOUR 2025 BRAIN BRAWN • MINI RESOLUTION HYDRATION • WEEK 3

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Welcome to the 3rd and final week of our mini resolution to stay hydrated! We hope you have been finding new ways to quench your thirst. As you know, we are suggesting 8 cups of water a day and we’re encouraging you to check your urine for hydration status! Here is that chart again in case you need it!


Track Your Hydration!
 
This month, our mini resolution is to drink 8 cups of water per day, as well as to pay attention to the color of our urine.
 
We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track your progress!
 
Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected].
 
If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here.



Signs of Dehydration

Know the signs of dehydration—beyond urine color—and grab some water and/or seek medical attention if you think you may be dehydrated:

 
Unexplained sluggishness – if nothing else has changed in your daily routine (sleep, exercise, etc.) then maybe you need some water. When dehydrated, blood pressure drops, decreasing blood flow to the brain inviting fatigue.
Palpitations – blood volume decreases in dehydration (it has less water in it) which causes an increase in heart rate to compensate.
Headaches – typical dehydration headaches feel like a dull ache or tightening all over the head (like a tension headache), but dehydration can also trigger migraines.
Inability to concentrate – suffering from brain fog? It might be your hydration levels. Not only does dehydration result in reduced memory and attention, but it can also increase anxiety and foul moods.
Bad breath – dehydration results in reduced body fluid production, including saliva-which serves the very important function of bathing the teeth and oral mucosa in enzyme rich oral fluids.
Dry skin – think of the cells in your body as a sponge. When a sponge is dry it is shriveled, hard and dry. When it is wet it is pliable, soft and voluminous. This is most evident in your skin cells. In fact, a test of serious dehydration is called a skin turgor test whereby the skin is pinched and if it doesn’t snap back, if it holds its tented shape then dehydration of a serious nature has set in.
Chills – if dehydrated, the body conserves blood flow to vital organs, redirecting flow from the skin causing you to feel more cold than typical.
Muscle cramps – water has electrolytes (sodium and potassium), which are necessary for muscle contractions, an absence of electrolytes can force the muscle to spasm involuntarily.
 
Sweet tooth cravings/hunger – if the liver doesn’t have enough hydration, it sends signals to the brain for food (it confuses dehydration with starvation), usually something glycogen rich like sweets

 
Dehydration Devices

Wearable devices that detect hydration levels are rapidly entering the market. Here are a few:

This watch is strictly for measuring hydration status, it can be paired with an app for logging your water consumption.
 
Have an Apple watch? Try one of these hydration detecting bands, which also measures your body composition.
 
This arm band can be used during exercise but also adds a spot check option using a finger reading.
 
If you get sweaty during workouts and don’t want another band, you may consider this patch that can read your electrolytes and determine your refilling needs.

This concludes our hydration mini resolution, but we encourage you to keep up with your progress from all your mini resolutions thus far. As always, feel free to reach us with any questions and we’ll see you next week for a new resolution!
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